How did over 2,000 migrants reach the Canaries in just 48 hours?

We head now to Spain, where nearly 2,200 migrants have arrived by boat to the Canary Islands this weekend. The Spanish islands are one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants from Africa. The Spanish Interior Ministry says more than 13,000 arrived there between January and the end of last month. This trip of... The Atlantic Ocean between West Africa and the Canary Islands is one of the world's deadliest migration routes, and the journey is usually made with ill-equipped dinghies and overcrowded boats. We can cross now to our correspondent in Madrid, Sarah Morris. Hi, Sarah. So this is a lot of people to arrive in a short space of time. How's the island coping with this influx? Influx. The island is struggling and it's demanding more resources. El Hierro, of course, is a very tiny island. It's got about 12,000 residents on it. And the numbers coming this weekend have broken records. We saw about 1,500 migrants arrive on some of those vessels yesterday in just 24 hours. And you have to go back to 2020 for that kind of daily arrival. Arrival and And some of the maritime rescue services in the Red Cross are talking about going back 30 years for the number of rescues that the Civil Guard and the Maritime... And rescue service have had to mount more than a dozen vessels came in yesterday. About four came in to El Hierro today. And the numbers keep coming. This is a deadly route. But there are pressures on some of those West African countries like Senegal, like Gambia, Mauritania, which mean that those desperate migrants take any opportunity that they can get. And the autumn tends to be a slightly better weather, as some of those migrants are telling The charity workers, when they arrive and are rescued, that they have been at sea for as much as a week. And we're seeing babies being carried in there to El Hierro shores today. A distressing situation for the migrants and for the local people. Some of them just say that they can't cope. Of course, that migrant. As centre in El Hierro just has space for about 500 people, it's already very overcrowded. Sarah, the Canary Islands are always sort of on the front lines of migration issues. What are the political implications for the Spanish government? Well, this is taking place in a general election. And of course, we know that the far right wants to make immigrants a scapegoat. And we know that there may be many Spaniards that worry about whether they can cope with migrants. Maybe we'll remember, of course, Pope Leo visited the Canary Islands early this year and he appealed for understanding about migrants arriving. And of course, though, that will be a big issue as Spaniards go to the voting polls on the 29th of November. Sarah, thank you so much for keeping us updated. That's France 24's Sarah Morris there in Madrid. Moving on.